Innovators

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 11:31 AM

Thomas Friedman publishes a great column this morning on what people need to survive in today's economy. There are great opportunities, but they don't lie in getting a job, but in creating your own job. However, the education system is still preparing people to enter a traditional job. Traditional jobs are vanishing. The people who thrive are on their own. The skills to be on your own are the skills which need to be taught. I would argue this has always been true, but it is even more true now.

As the article points out, the number one problem we all must tackle to survive today: motivation. You are no longer going to be able to show up at a job, go through the motions with a modicum of competence, and collect a check. You are going to have to have the creativity, but most of all the motivation, to package and sell your own talents, not just to get a single job, but to get many little jobs. Not only do you need the motivation to sell your talents, but you then have to learn to charge enough for those talents to pay the bills.

Thomas Friedman publishes a great column this morning on what people need to survive in today's economy. There are great opportunities, but they don't lie in getting a job, but in creating your own job. However, the education system is still preparing people to enter a traditional job. Traditional jobs are vanishing. The people who thrive are on their own. The skills to be on your own are the skills which need to be taught. I would argue this has always been true, but it is even more true now.

As the article points out, the number one problem we all must tackle to survive today: motivation. You are no longer going to be able to show up at a job, go through the motions with a modicum of competence, and collect a check. You are going to have to have the creativity, but most of all the motivation, to package and sell your own talents, not just to get a single job, but to get many little jobs. Not only do you need the motivation to sell your talents, but you then have to learn to charge enough for those talents to pay the bills.